The city of Burlington will seek to hire a new full-time firefighter as part of a plan to end its fire department’s part-time firefighter program.
The Burlington City Council narrowly approved the new full-time position Thursday, but did not approve the other six staff positions throughout the city that were pitched to councilmembers at their last meeting.
Fire Chief Rob Toth told the council that Burlington is ready to move on from its part-time firefighter program and become a fully professional department.
His department has nine part-time positions, but Toth said he deals with significant turnover. Three of those positions are now vacant.
“When (part-time firefighters) aren’t there, it costs overtime,” Toth said. “It puts more workload on the current staff that’s there.”